Forget Me Not
by Damonficgirl
Summary: An interesting case lands right in Audrey's lap when the suddenly love-struck Duke starts to lose his memories, starting with his memories of Audrey and Evie. Set during Season 2 post Lockdown. I expect this to run for about three or four chapters, around 5,000 words total. Nathan and other characters will also feature but you can only nominate two characters in the listing.
1. Chapter 1

**Forget Me Not**

_Setting: Season 2 After Lockdown assume that there will be spoilers._

**Chapter 1**

"Morning Duke," Audrey greeted as she padded down the stairs from her apartment.

"Morning beautiful, what are you doing here at this time of day?" Duke's face lit up as he took in the attractive blonde.

"Going to work," Audrey responded, confused. "Everything all right? Rent isn't due is it?"

"Rent? Do you own the building?" Duke asked innocently.

"Okay stop mucking around Duke, you're starting to worry me and you're going to make me late," Audrey warned.

"So where do you work? Not let me guess, with looks like that I'd guess air hostess but it's Haven and no uniform… you'd look sexy in a nurses uniform but you're not carrying a bag so unless your uniform is in your locker at work that's out too… wait I didn't hire you and then forget did I? I'm feeling a bit foggy this morning, I must have had a big night," Duke flashed his most mischievous grin.

"Do you seriously not know who I am?" Alarm bells were ringing in Audrey's brain now. Memory loss? In Haven? The likely explanation seemed pretty obvious…

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry, did we…?" Duke asked gently.

"No! Duke, I'm your friend and your tenant, I work with Haven PD. Think about it Duke you must know me."

Duke studied her blue eyes seriously, for a minute it looked like he recognised her but then he shook his head. "Sorry, nothing."

"What about Nathan Wuornos?" Audrey asked. "Do you remember him? He's my partner on the force."

"Little Nate? The Chief's boy? Sure I played Little League with him, but just between you and me he's a bit of an uptight wanker if you ask me. Trust me honey whatever Nathan's told you about me is probably all lies. Give me a chance to show you otherwise," Duke crooned and gave her a wink.

"Duke! We know each other!" Audrey took his hands in hers. "Listen to me, what is the last thing you remember?"

"I was tending the bar last night, then my Friday night guy took over so I thought I'd relax and enjoy a few myself…. I don't remember having more than one drink but I must have had more than a few because that's all I remember."

"Do you remember talking to anyone? Did you see anyone who looked like they were trying to get your attention?" It was like questioning someone who was concussed, or brain damaged, she tried not to dwell on the last part of that thought.

Duke shrugged, "Claire was there of course," Duke smiled wistfully.

"Claire?"

"My girlfriend," Duke enthused. "She's amazing. You'd love her."

"Since when?"

"Since forever."

"Duke until last week you living with your wife, but she died, before that you were dating, I definitely know you don't have a long term girlfriend. And you just tried to pick me up."

"That does sound like me, the last bit I mean. Wait, I had a wife? Wow, now that does not sound like me. And she died? I should probably be upset about that," Duke reasoned, but he was oddly disconnected from his own reality.

"You were, I mean you are."

"So were you interested, when I tried to pick you up?" Duke asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

"No, not like that, Duke we're friends."

"So why don't I know your name? I think maybe we need to get to know each other better," Duke invited.

"This Claire, did you stay over on your boat last night?"

"There's no need to get jealous sweetie," Duke teased.

"I'm not jealous, I'm investigating. So did she sleep over?" Audrey asked directly.

"Yeah, of course, she's my girlfriend. I think we're going to get married," Duke admitted, suddenly besotted again. It seemed to Audrey like every time he thought directly about Claire he turned into a lovesick puppy but the rest of the time he was his usual self – minus a lot of recent memories, but not all of them or he wouldn't have known to come to The Gull and open up. Maybe because he'd been at The Gull when he met this Claire? Or was it more to do with the fact it was women he was forgetting? Maybe he'd only forgotten his recent memories of Nathan because they involved Audrey. He'd obviously forgotten Audrey and Evie. Audrey wondered how many other women he'd forgotten but she didn't really know the names of any of Duke's conquests. Maybe she'd ask about Julia, but she'd save that for later, it was hard enough keeping him focused for long enough to get any useful information.

"That I've never heard of before. Tell me about her? What does she look like?"

"She's amazing, gorgeous, smart, funny," Duke enthused, a love-struck look on his face.

"That's lovely, but how tall is she? What colour is her hair? Her eyes?"

"I'm not really… I mean I guess she's medium, yeah medium hair, medium eyes."

"Medium isn't a colour Duke."

"What does it matter? She's beautiful, you really should meet her. I should probably go and see her. I miss her," he sighed as if his heart was crushed by her absence.

"Where does she live?" Audrey persisted.

"I… I don't know." Duke looked confused.

"Alright, you're coming with me."

"So you do want to get to know me better? Officer if I didn't know better I'd think this was a ploy to spend more time with you?" he teased.

"Trust me, it's not. Please Duke, just get in the car, we need to find this 'Claire' as soon as possible."

"I don't want her to get into any trouble," Duke said anxiously.

"I just want to help her, I'm worried she might have a problem, do you remember the troubles Duke?"

Duke nodded but he still looked scared and uncertain. "But I still don't know your name."

"Audrey Parker," Audrey smiled. "Now get in the car."

Duke nodded and went along with the kindly stranger's request. Audrey pulled out her phone and rang Nathan. "Nathan its Audrey, we've got a problem and it looks like we have a troubled woman who is affecting the memory of the men she beds. I'm going to take Duke to the hospital just to make sure he hasn't got a head injury but it defiantly sounds like the troubles. Get Vince and meet me here so we can try to get a sketch together…. Yes I said Duke. I know, who would have thought? Get someone there to start looking for other cases of sudden memory loss as well, and ask Dave to look it up in the archives. Okay. See you soon."

"So are you Nathan's boss?" Duke asked, genuinely curious.

Audrey smiled, "No he's my boss actually. He's everyone's boss while he's acting Chief."

"Wow, he did alright for himself. His Dad must be proud," Duke observed with just a trace of bitterness.

"Yeah he turned out pretty good, but his Dad's dead, do you remember that?"

Duke shook his head, a concerned look in his face.

"Okay let's get you checked out okay?"

Duke nodded uncertainly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hey Nate, how you going?" Duke greeted Nathan warmly as the tall man strode towards Audrey and Duke who were lingering in a corridor of the Haven Hospital. Audrey had made a few contacts at the hospital and Duke's initial assessment had been expedited but any further testing would have to wait. "Long time no see?"

"I wish," Nathan deadpanned.

"Hi Vince, thanks for coming," Audrey greeted the older man who was trailing in Nathan's wake.

"I'll do my best, anything to help, in these circumstances," Vince offered kindly.

"Duke, do you know Vince?" Audrey asked.

"The old guy who runs the paper with his brother?" Duke asked rhetorically. "We're not exactly tight but I've seen him around."

"Well Vince is a very talented artist," Audrey explained.

"Thank you," Vince interjected.

Audrey smiled kindly. "Vince is going to draw a picture of Claire for you, but you need to describe her to him."

"Uh, I guess," Duke said cautiously. "But I don't want her to get into any trouble."

"I just want a chance to meet her, help her out, and you, she's not in any trouble Duke," Audrey reassured gently.

Duke's head bobbed like an obedient puppy dog.

"We can sit over here," Vince invited, gesturing to a line of empty plastic chairs.

"So, did you find anything?" Audrey asked Nathan, leaning close to confer more privately.

"Nothing like this," Nathan began, "No official police reports and nothing in the Herald, but Dave heard some gossip about a woman whose husband went out for a drink at The Gull and never came home again, still went to work the next day but left the wife, she didn't report it because she thought he was just having some sort of midlife crisis."

"It adds up, sounds like there's a chance he forgot he was married."

"I say we stop and talk to the wife before we go to his workplace, ask the guy and his co-workers," Nathan suggested.

"What was his name?"

Nathan checked his notebook, "Steven Hunter."

"Sounds like a plan, we'll take Vince just in case we can get another sketch."

Nathan nodded before asking, "So Duke really doesn't remember you?"

"Not, me not Evie, not Julia, he doesn't even remember any female relatives either," Audrey explained.

"You don't think it's a reaction to the stress of Evie's death?" Nathan whispered.

"Well he hasn't got any signs of concussion or brain damage, they want him to hang around and have some cans done, just to be on the safe side but…" Audrey made a face.

"They know its Haven and no one is saying it's the troubles but they don't exactly think it's normal either, so they're just covering their bases."

"Yeah, I figure."

"Okay, you think he'll be okay here on his own?"

"I don't like it, want to call Stan in keep an eye on him?"

"Better him than me."

Audrey nodded and Nathan stepped away to make the call.

Twenty minutes later they left the hospital with the sketch in hand. Duke's new "girlfriend" looked a bit like a Barbie doll as far as Audrey was concerned, so she was somewhat alarmed when Nathan asked, "You don't think she looks a bit like you?"

"What?"

"Blonde hair, blue eyes, you don't think Duke has a type do you?"

"Duke? Duke's 'type' is female and attractive; I think his tastes are pretty diverse. Even if we do include me in the list of women he's tried to bed around here, Julia and Evie and I we don't exactly have much else in common."

"I don't know, you're all pretty feisty," Nathan remarked. "But that's a good thing," he added quickly. "I wouldn't blame him for liking that."

"Good recovery there, I hope your shoes didn't get too wet."

"What?" Nathan asked looking down automatically.

"When you pulled your foot out of your mouth," Audrey grinned.

"Ha, ha," Nathan mocked.

"Anyway it seems to me like you might have something in common there Wuornos," Audrey pointed out insightfully, "Come on, let's see what Mrs Hunter has to say about her beloved husband."


End file.
